Reading Gmail Messages
If you’ve read Gmail on your phone, reading it on a Honeycomb tablet is a treat. There’s finally enough room to really browse through your messages. When you launch the Gmail app by clicking the Gmail app icon or clicking an email alert, you’ll see something resembling Figure 8–5.
Figure 8–5. Viewing a Gmail message
Notice that your email message appears on the right. The controls to reply to the message or forward it are located above the message itself. The column to the left is designed to allow you to easily navigate to new messages, and the Newer and Older buttons can be used by the thumb of the hand you’re using to hold the tablet.
The Action bar at the top of the screen shows menu options. If you tap the Gmail icon on the upper-left corner (where the arrow points to the left), you’ll see something resembling Figure 8–6.
Figure 8–6. Navigating Gmail labels
This view allows you to navigate within different labels, including the Priority Inbox, if enabled. Now that you understand how Gmail’s web interface works, this should look familiar, even though the interface has changed for the tablet.
NOTE: You can tap and drag or just hold down your finger and drag messages to labels or to the Trash.
The Action bar options in the upper right include search, new message, sync accounts, and the Gmail settings menu.
NOTE: Gmail messages are grouped into conversations, rather than strictly chronologically. Messages with the same subject header are grouped together, which makes it easier to track a conversation that spans several messages.
Sending a Message
You can send a message by replying to an existing message or by tapping the New message button (see Figure 8–6). Once you tap the New message button, you’ll see the Compose area, as shown in Figure 8–7.
Figure 8–7. Composing a message
Tap in the To:, Subject:, or Compose Mail fields to start typing in those areas. As you type your addressee in the To: field, you’ll notice that Android will start to autocomplete the address.
You’ll also notice that you can tap the Paperclip icon to add an attachment from your tablet to your message. When you tap that icon, just browse to the location of your attachment to add it.